Happy Day!

Sis. Tuia, Sis. Messer, Subhash and Elder Stark, who baptized him

Hey everyone!

President & Sister Scott

So, Subhash did get baptized last night! It was basically the best baptism everrrrr. Great support from the ward, too! Subhash brought a bunch of indian food and we had a feast afterwards. President and Sis Scott were both able to come and a bunch of the elders in our district who were able to bring some investigators. He bore an awesome testimony after he was baptized! Elder Rodee, in our district leaned forward and whispered, "you guys just baptized a quorum of the 70." haha it's true though! He's so awesome! Actually, all of Sunday was pretty legit. We had 5 investigators at church! RS and PH was combined the last hour and guess what the topic was? It was the stake's Reach Out and Rescue Plan- we were terrified! They started talking about non-members coming to church, dealing with less-actives and all that jazz. So basically our investigators were sitting in the lesson hearing about how members need to fellowship non members when they come to church and to be notified to fellowship before hand- we were like...uh, why are they talking about this? and one of our investigators- Gay, turned around and said, "you two are in trouble!" (she's sooo funny, we love her) but then it turned into the investigators telling the members how it works! haha It was a miracle! i was praying the whole time that the spirit would filter anything that may hinder their progress. Gay turned around and started to tell us how we did a good job making her feel welcome and excited about church so i said, "tell them that!" so she raised her hand and the teacher brought her to the front and she was able to tell everyone how excited she was to come to church and how everything we've been teaching her makes her happy and then subhash walked up and said, "those two taught me the same thing!" Gay was like, "now i'm stuck! I'm always coming!" hahaha Everyone was like, yaaaa! So things worked out perfectly and it ended up being a great way for the gators to get involved after all!

Our investigators are doing well. Gay, who i just talked about- we met her brother, Clint (who also came out yesterday!) while playing a bible game along the street. We stopped by to see if he was home and they were outside doing yard work so we helped gay and her sister nav in their garden. One thing lead to another and now we're all bff's. We're getting to share the gospel with all 3 of them! The cool thing is, we met Gay's son outside too and he's like, "now you guys are showing up at my house too? Oh wait, are you the ones who helped in our garden?" We had met him last transfer and he gave his # only to tell us later that he wasn't interested. So we've met all of their family in 3 different ways. Coincidence? they don't think so :)

Nadine is doing great! She was also present in that wonderful lesson at church. We're meeting her tonight. She's working towards baptism this August!

Guess what i tried for the 1st time this week? Sushi! Our district went for sushi after district meeting on wednesday- it was way good! mady, didn't you say you tried it in vegas? well, i'll take all of you next summer. haha

That's so cool about meeting with dad's half brothers and cousin. Who knew that my great gma was just like me! Man, she must have been pretty cool ;) I met a bunch of people from the 7th day adventist faith here in brampton.  So do dad and his brothers look alike? i'm sure dad's more handsome and charming too, of course.

This boy is hilarious!  We call him Papa

Your SF trip sounds like a classic! The youth in my ward just went to Nauvoo this week! They took a bus down for 2 days, saw the pageant and all. I told Sis Solomon if they'd done that last year i could have met them! haha I've been thinking about that trip this week- i can't believe that was an entire year ago! good times. I'm looking fwd to getting my giants shirt :)

Alright, well it sounds like things are going well! We're still chuggin along. Looking fwd to subhash's confirmation on sunday! talk to ya soon!!! love and miss ya

sister messer

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors....What?!!!

Hey everyone!

attached are pictures of this week. We had some odd plumbing issues i let sister Tuia handle...and these 2 sikh guys are at the church every day. The one is reading a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet in Hindi :)

Well, this week has been a good one. We've been teaching Subhash a lot and he's doing so well! There were 2 baptisms last night- one from the elders in our ward and from the Heart Lake ward and he stayed for both! haha He met President Scott and talked to the RS president about food for after his baptism. After asking for permission to walk up and stand next to the font for the second one, he got up looked at us and put 2 thumbs up in the air! haha we just laughed. He's so ready and really excited for NEXT sunday at 5pm! holla! We had the funniest thing happen while teaching him the 10 commandments a few days ago. He was reading them out of Exodus and he got to "thou shalt not covet thy neighbors ass" and he paused and said, "oh my gosh....am i allowed to say that?!" Sis Tuia and i looked at each other and busted up. In his indian accent it was priceless. We assured him that it meant donkey and he was ok with it after that. But thinking about it how he initially thought it meant made me laugh even harder. He's awesome. Last monday he and his wife came over for dinner at the Bishops house. He has an amazing relationship with Bishop Solomon and his wife :)

This week we picked up a few new investigators. One being a lady named Nadine from Jamaica. The spanish elders found her about 2 months ago and we've been in contact w/her, inviting her out to church. 4 weeks ago, she came out and luckily sat right in front of us, since i didn't recognize her-after sacrament meeting i leaned forward and introduced myself and found out it was her! she had come! Well, 2 weeks later she came again (that was last week) and we taught her this week. She's gotten a lot more comfortable and fun to teach. We're seeing her tonight! She ran into her fellowshipper on the bus a few days ago and was asking her about baptism :) She even missed her stop (on purpose!) to continue to talk with the member!

We also started to work with Kira. Last week we were the elders at the church and they got a phone call from a Less active member who had just moved back into our ward boundaries. Luckily she lived on the North side which is our territory so we've gone over a couple of times to see her. While we were there on Saturday, her friend who lives upstairs (brampton is all about basement apartments...) and offered us some snacks and asked if she could sit in on our lesson. Well, she sat in while the elders a few years ago taught the less active member and she knows quite a bit. We're excited to try and continue to meet and teach the both of them together. Other than that, the other investigators we have are off and on. We had some good lessons with some this week but they haven't been answering calls. typical...

So it's been a good week. Pretty warm and humid but cooled off mid week making it a little less sweaty.  Sis Tuia and I are having a lot of fun. It probably helps that Subhash is such a golden investigator- we're excited for his baptism on Sunday! 

Love Sister Messer

Totes presh

Hey everyone!

Sister Messer and Sister Tuia

See her awesome tan line?

Their living room

Their kitchen

Sister Tuia teaching Sister Messer Samoan hair decorating

Well, this week has been pretty great. Last monday I got that picture and email you sent the office on my bday! haha We had interviews at the church but sister sippel printed off the picture of you guys at girls camp with the email you sent with it and gave it to me. Totes presh. That night we had dinner with the temple president and his wife. They're awesome. He was the AP to Pres. Monson when he served as mission president here. In fact, he showed us a picture in Pres. Monson's autobiography and it shows him in it! If you wanna search for it, it's on a page of pictures that also shows the old mission home in Ossington (downtown toronto) and Pres Monsons family too on the same pages.

I forgot to tell you about my new district at transfers. And now the transfer is 1/2 over! crazy. Well, Elder Rogers is in it! He serves in brampton ward too. He's from Vegas and we were in the same mtc district! So that's fun.

Samantha didn't get baptized yesterday. This week we've been trying to resolve her concerns a lot. Right now she still likes her old church because she has friends there and it seems more like 'home'. so we're working with the families in the ward to try and fellowship her more. I know if she felt like this ward was her home that she would love to be baptized.

Subhash is doing amazingly! We've met with him a few times this week and is progressing super quickly. He's really intelligent (retired physics/electronics professor) so he soaks it all in. He wanted to meet with us, Bishop Solomon and his wife, and the Starks (fellowshippers) yesterday after church. He had brought everyone flowers and expressed his deep gratitude for everything. It was a cool experience- He's been so prepared! Sis Tuia and I were like, "what did we ever do to deserve such an awesome investigator?!" Really though, we feel so blessed and love him to death! He brought his wife to church yesterday, too! her first time at a christian church- she's great. She's not as open as subhash but with time, who knows! The Starks invited us to lunch after church with subhash and his wife and it was a great time too.We're working towards the 29th for his baptism and he's already prepared...we can't wait!

We had a cool experience yesterday with an investigator named Parm. Sis anushy and I gave him a church tour last month and a few weeks ago sis T and i called him and taught him briefly. He told us that he has finals and is busy but is done on the 15th and if we're supposed to meet things will work out. WELL, last night we were walking around brampton and here he comes riding past on a bike! I was like, Parm! you know what this means! hahaha it was sooo meant to be. He laughed and kind of made up an excuse but we hope he really does think about it and realize we didn't run into each other in coincidence! haha

as for michael, his mom had a heart attack and he had to go to Calgary. We've been in contact through text but when he gets back, hopefully we can meet.

So things are keeping us pretty busy. Sounds like you are all doing well too. We were also listening to the nauvoo pageant cd in the car! haha i love torturing my companions with it. I guess it just doesn't have the same sentimental value to them :)

Have a wonderful week, i think you're pretty awesome too!

Love Sister Messer

(Oops! Forgot to post this for 7/3/12!) A NEW COMPANION

Sister Messer with first companion, Sis. Wirthlin and new companion, Sis. Tuia

Hey everyone!

Well, this week has been full of finding. Sister Tuia and I have been coming up with new finding ideas, trying to coorelate them and talking to everyone. We get along really well and we're super stoked to work together. Well, that's coming from me- if you asked her she may disagree ;) She's from Samoa, her dad is a stake president there, she's taught me how to do samoan dances and this is her 7th week in the field. She came pre-trained though, she's awesome. I'll attach some pictures!

Yup, yesterday was Canada Day. It's to celebrate their freedom, i guess. We sang Oh Canada in sacrament meeting- that was fun. Probably won't ever get to sing Oh Canada on Canada Day in sac meeting ever again in my life! haha

Yay, it IS my birthday on Friday! We planned to go out to lunch or something but we just got an email telling us we have interviews with President Scott. So that will be a good way to celebrate too, i suppose! I've gotten some packages from Gma/Gpa, Leavitts, Tar/Jenn and you guys! i'm waiting to open them on my bday, of course! THANKS!

I got a letter from Gma with some chapparel in it! it smells like desert rain! It was so cool to smell it, it made me think of walks around the reservoir! It looks like it's gonna rain here today- perfect for the picnic we've planned to have with our district.

With our district at the mission office

This week we stopped by our Bishops house and his wife said, "i'm translating the Doctrine & Covenants into tamil right now! Do you want to see?" she showed us her computer and all the notes and writings she's made. it was really neat- it was like behind the scenes joseph smith action goin on! She said it will be printed in about 6-8 months or so.

Well, I was reading about Abish in alma today and I love that she was just a servant...alas because of her boldness in sharing the gospel she was able to help with the conversion of thousands of lamanites- along with the testimonies of other people. She's the woman! It helps me to open my mouth and talk to everyone because you never know who you come in contact with if they're prepared to hear the gospel.

have a great week! love and miss ya'll

Sister Messer

8 MONTH ANNIVERSARY!

Hey everyone!

Well this week was basically amazing. Great week to celebrate turning 22! First things first, you want to know about my birthday:

it was really hot but good. Thanks for all the bday packages! I love everything you sent! all of you! gracias! We had interviews with President Scott and it was wonderful! I was walking down the hall for my interview and him and Sis. Scott approached me and said, "we saw it was your bday this morning! Happy Birthday!" and then Pres asked if the district had sang happy bday to me (ofcourse they hadn't, a bunch of elders- they had no idea.) and So he was like, "well there's no time like the present!" so he made the district sing happy bday and  then we carried on with our interview. He said he is really excited for sis Tuia and I to work together and that he wanted to get us together. I told him I had seen her picture in the office before she got here and I had thought we were going to be companions her 1st transfer. He sat back and said Really? and i was like yaaa! and he's like, "well I wanted to! but things just didn't work out with everything." but he's really excited to have us together and I LOVE being her companion! We have so much fun and work hard. We've seen some amazing miracles this week and i'm excited to tell you all about it!

Meet Subhash- 65 years old, from India, retired professor of electronics, hindu background. We met him street contacting near the church. We've taught him 3 times this week and he's planning to be baptized July 29!! He's absolutely, incredibly prepared. I don't even know where to start. He comes right out with his concerns so he is easy to teach and really cooperative and excited about everything! He calls us like twice a day-last night he called and said he LOVED church. He said, "it's like a kid's first day of school!" He was so excited and met some really awesome members. He just called us like 5 min ago because he wanted to show his grandaughter around the church. His family should come around in the future, too. He even brought us flowers as a thank-you, showed up 30min. early to church and we're meeting him again tomorrow. He's got some great fellowshippers and is building upon a GREAT foundation. pinch me, i'm dreaming.

Meet Michael- White, canadian, 40s, former professional lacrosse player. Met him street contacting...he had just been feeding the ducks at the pond across the street and didn't have a shirt on-i was apprehensive to contact him but thanks to Sis Tuia's bravness, we did! He wants to change...he's very unhappy and last night we met him at the park and taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ 5pts. He got really excited and found some hope for his life! He wants to be baptized on august 5! He yelled, "you guys have to come to my baptism!!!" haha so he really wants it! We're excited to help him quit some bad habits and we hope he has the strength to make it throught.

Samantha's baptism is this coming Sunday. She's got some concerns that we need to figure out this week. She is doing really well, and has a testimony...she's scared of something and we're working on it. We made calendars to chart bom reading for her and the 2 kids she lives with. They're great fellowshippers! We got them prizes for when they complete it and they're reading out of the kids picture book that tells the bom stories. They love it and they brought their calendars to church yesterday to show us how much they've completed. We rewarded them with some stickers.

So this week we've been very blessed! We're so excited to help them and grateful, too! We've been trying new finding ideas (story of my life.) and we had been advertising a church tour all week long with everyone we met. Guess how many people came? zip. 0. zilch. But we know our efforts were seen and we were blessed in other places.

Gma, you sent me that Amy B. Hansen cd- she's sooo good! We were driving listening to the first song (mix of sweet hour of prayer/praise to the man) and we were like holy cow! this is our jam! It's so awesome...youtube it or something. We agreed we need her address so we can write her a letter- wanna find that for us?

Kyle Shumway served in Brampton? It's definitely my fav area thus far. I haven't met anyone from zimbabwe. we were wondering about the # of referrals they got from the temple openhouse. We run into people often that said they went to it. 1500 referrals. WOW. we're lucky if we get 1 a week. Brampton has 3 wards- Brampton, Heartlake and spanish chingacousey. as well as credit view nearby.

Our bishops wife is indian, yes. She speaks tamil and hindi. He baptized her when he was on his mission!

Have a great week!

love sister messer

great things continue to happen!

HEY! exciting news with transfers!!!

Sister Anushya is being transferred to Burlington (right by Oakville) and her comp is sis turvaville! cool, eh? Sister Tuia is coming to Brampton to be my comp. I'm follow-up training her (only meaning she's been one 1 transfer and still is in her training study in the mornings) and she is from Samoa! I honestly thought I was going to be her companion last transfer when I saw her picture in the office and was kind of surprised when i wasn't...but i'm pysched to go pick her up tomorrow!

That's exciting about President and Sister Dalley! haha I'll miss Pres and Sis Leavitt of course...but they'll do good too- his counselors will be a lot of fun as well!

I had salmon for the first time. end of story.

Mo is becoming a pretty awesome member missionary! He was confirmed yesterday at church and he was lookin fly. He's so happy! A new member in the ward brought her friend to church and Mo brought him to me and said, "this is kevin, he wants to know about the bom and be baptized." hahaha We also gave him pass along cards to hand out while he walks around brampton. He's so excited to be a member! 

The weather this week was sooooo hotttttt! Oh gosh. It wasn't totally unbearable but they said it felt like the heat of summer...if that's as bad as it gets, i may just survive. I think it was 40-45*C plus the humidity (which of course i love...)

I"ll answer some of your Q's.

Q- So, do you ever miss Mississauga?  Is sister Wirthlin still there? I havent missed that area too much :) the people are a lot nicer here (not as many white people) but for real- i have this fear of contacting white people...they're mean! SisW is still there--

Q- Is everywhere pretty and green like Nauvoo? It is really green! especially getting out into the country when we drive to bolton or woodbridge, it reminds me of eastern US.

Q- How is Sathri doing? SAD. He won't answer calls or anything. He called us to tell us last week that he couldn't come to church because he had to take his dad somewhere and sisA was disappointed and told him to atleast come for an hour but he didn't. Since then he won't answer calls. We'll keep trying though.

So there's a guy in the credit view ward (the boundaries we actually live in) and he has a mormon.org message! he takes clothes to Uruguay. You should look him up. I talked to him for quite some time at a dinner last night. The bishops son leaves for the mtc tonight (he's serving in india) and had a dinner open house yesterday. Practically the entire ward came- it was like a big family party! I really love this ward. I'm excited to stay another transfer.

A quick story that happened this week- last Friday (over a week ago) we saw some people moving into a house across the street from the church and so we walked over and helped them unload their truck, invited them out to church and stuff. We continued to run into the lady about every other day walking or just sitting outside. well, on Saturday we saw her walking across the parking lot as we had stopped by the church for just a second so we walked over and talked to her for a few minutes. She was really sweet, told us she was pregnant with her 10th kid and what not. She started asking about the church and temple and then smiled and said," ya, i was baptized in the mississauga church when i was 12." my mouth dropped open and i said, "well welcome home!" she laughed and i told her she should come out and she said she would talk to her bf about it. Miracles happen! We have a pretty good relationship with her and she lives literally like 20 yds from the church.

Well, great things continue to happen! Thanks for the prayers and the updates- have a fun week!

love sister messer

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MANNY!

I love & miss ya...I hope you're updating my blog & facebook correctly!

Oct '11 DISNEYLAND!

*Yes, yes...I PRE-mish blogged this too...you caught me. 

this week ended soooo good! Mo was baptized last night!



Elder raikes is next to me- he baptized mo. He also serves in the brampton 1st ward. Elder silva is on the end- he serves in the spanish ward but him and elder mejia, his comp, got to know Mo and so mo loves elder silva. So we're all just one, big happy family.

Hey everyone!

Well, this week ended soooo good! Mo was baptized last night! He looked so good afterwards with the white shirt I got him and tie. He loved it! He kept saying thank you and was smiling and super happy. What have I told you about Mo? Well, he's had a really tough past. He's 37 (doesn't look like, eh?) and when younger he was treated really bad by terrorist groups in Sri Lanka. After moving to Canada, that stuff really has bothered him. Then after seeing a doctor, he told him to find things that make him happy and get involved with that. Right after that's when we found him by the temple. He had been going to a nearby Catholic church and had learned a little bit about Christ from that I guess. But after spending time at the temple and church every day to get away from a bad home environment (his family supports the terrorist stuff) we've been able to teach him a lot and he's found a lot of peace. Anyways, he's sooo excited and we're really excited for him too! The ward is supporting him and he's getting some great fellowshippers.

You want a detailed day? Well, the only things that are consistent is get up at 6:30, exercise til 7, get ready until 8, personly study til 9, comp study til 10 and then out all day until 9pm. We have appointments that we schedule, tract, street contact and have lunch and dinner within that time. It's always different!

Fathers Day- the ward gave the dads cake and icecream, and we tried to explain to a member why we don't get to call home on fathers day- only mothers day. haha but it was great.

Samantha isn't set for baptism- she won't commit. Her mom is in Nigeria and I think she's afraid to do anything (we're not quite sure about her desire to get baptized) we're meeting again tonight- hopefully something miraculous will come forth :) As for Natalie in Nobleton- cancelled again.  But her cousin- we call him Gpa, his name is Arul, he committed for baptism the end of July, but we have a lot work to do with him. Last week Sathri came to church and wanted to pay tithing- we explained to him he doesn't need to pay but he insisted- we taught him this week and he committed for July8. His father may be interested too- they're also from Sri Lanka. We're excited about him!

I think you're right about sikh men never cutting their hair under their turbans- but those are the really committed ones. Nagra- who comes to church told us he cut his hair because it gets really hot. Makes sense!

We've been hearing a lot about the 1st stake in India being formed- we saw a picture from the church news article and sister anushya knew a few of the people! Our bishop told us a few weeks ago about all the happening. she'll be excited to get the newspaper about it though!

Lots of good things happening as we strive to be obedient! I've learned that a mission is like a lifetime experience in 18 months. You get discouraged, good things happen, you learn to rely on the Lord, you find out that obedience is key and so much more. The exact same things happen throughout life- with trials and having to learn that keeping the commandments is the only way to live with God again...profound, eh? hahah totally kidding. But transfers are this Sunday- we'll see what happens!

Love and miss ya!

Sister Messer

a picture from last week's zone conference here in Brampton. That's the church i go to multiple times a week! This is the Sudbury, Barry and Brampton zones. Can you find me???i have my eyes shut! haha go fig.

talking to strangers gets a little easier every day :)

Hey everyone!

This week has been pretty good. We had a zone conference this week and that was a great thing. Thats the picture i attached- the sisters that were there- minus 2 of them because they wandered off. Also we were driving to Bolton yesterday and saw a punjabi guy mowing his lawn- we both just started laughing because it looked so funny so i attached that picture too :) I talked in church yesterday! We continue to teach people, find people...all that good stuff. I really don't have much to say! haha ummm It was  a full week of unsuccessful tracting, street contacting, appointments with potential investigators that don't seem to interested. It wasn't a bad week but it wasn't a super special one either.

Mo continues to work towards his baptismal date- it's next Sunday. He's starting to meet more people in the ward and really enjoys getting to know everyone. We're hoping he'll be ready by sunday and that all will go well. That's cool that you got to go to the temple so often this week! We go here about 1 or 2 times a year- so i hear. We just went the first week i got here in brampton so it'll be awhile before we go back again.

Mady's graduation sounds like a party! I thought about her graduating i think it was on friday? but then i didn't remember what day she graduated soooo it's weird not being there for it! But the pictures look like a good time.

Well, i'm sorry this email is a little shorter- it's been a good week! it really has- we've been able to visit some gators and talking to strangers gets a little easier every day :)

miss and love ya all

sister messer

my testimony of obedience has grown a million percent

Hey everybody!

Attached is a picture we took on the way to email, we said, "oh no we didn't take any pictures this week!" so i held out my NEW camera! (yay!) and snapped a picture.

This week we've been blessed and my testimony of obedience has grown a million percent. We evaluated what we needed to work on in order for a baptism this June and decided to tweak a few things. One of them was to get up and go outside and exercise from 6:30-7:00 instead of just stretching/whining because we are tired. We live in a cute neighborhood in downtown Brampton so there are pretty victorian houses and lots of trees and flowers, even an old train station and brick townhouses- i really like it. As we continue to become more obedient and are diligent in all we do, not only will we become better missionaries but also better disciples of Christ. I'm excited to become better!

   We have a baptismal date with Mo on June 17. If you remember anything about Mo, he's from Sri Lanka and has had a rough past with the violence and stuff there so he hates/is afraid of  tamil people (sister A) So it's an interesting situation when I teach him. But he comes to the church and temple every day for hours and just sits there because he feels so at peace and can take his mind off all that has hurt him in the past. He's learning well and progressing-he Loves to learn everything he's taught and is really excited to be baptized.

  Samantha and Mo were both at a baptismal service last night for an 8 yr old in the Heart Lake ward. Mo loved it and when we talked to Sam about it, she said she still wants to think about it. Being only 11 and her mom never around, I think she gets nervous talking about it. We have FHE with their family tonight and we have a really cool lesson planned about the commandments and how through baptism is the only way we can live with God again. We're hoping that helps :)

   The coolest experience of all was Thursday night. We go on splits every Thurs with our ward missionaries and we had a lesson planned with an inactive member at the church. We waited around a while and he never showed up (that happens waaaaay to often) so we were like, well- might as well leave! and our ward missionary, sis. Scott-Wright, said, "lets wait 15 more min. to give him the benefit of the doubt." and we were like ok. So we walk outside to see if we can see him coming and a guy walks through the doors, i assume he was a member by his confidence in coming inside and just open the door for him. But he walks in and starts talking to Sis A about any pamphlets he can have- when i heard that i came back in and started talking to him. He was on his way to the hospital (which is across the street) he said he had appendicitis. He parked his car in the church lot so he wouldn't have to pay for parking. But he has been going through some really rough times and decided to check out church because he had never been before. So when he realized he was parked at a church, he came inside and found us! He said, "I'm interested in becoming a member of this church so I just was looking for pamphlets i could read while I was in the waiting room at the hospital." There are some times (a lot of times) I wish a camera crew followed us around because i'd love to see my face when that happened. He told us he would come to church on Sunday and we'd talk then. Well, he called us that night and told us he had given us a wrong phone # to contact him and that he really had a broken rib. He came out yesterday! He was really nervous, not knowing what to expect but he genuinely enjoyed it. It was a great testimony meeting and everything that was said was really stuff he needed to hear! Amazing how that stuff happens, eh? But he has a lot of rough things going on and we're supposed to be in contact with him this week. The gospel will help him SO much. I really hope he realizes that! Along with him at church yesterday- there was also Mo, samantha and Arul (nanthini's cousin gpa i've told you a little about) So that's quite a few gators! holla!

   We had a few service opportunities this week. We've been praying for that to happen! We never get to do service- for some reason they ask the elders to move heavy things- they have no idea that strength behind this beautiful face. Just kiddin, that's fine if they want them to do it But we did get to plant a garden this week for an older lady in the ward and help a lady in a wheelchair with a few chores in her apartment. That's always a fun opportunity...saves you from walking aimlessly down the street :)

 Can you believe it's my 7month mark this week? This mission stuff flies by. It's insane! We have a zone conference this Friday with about 70 missionaries. Those are always fun, getting to see some people! Well, have a great week! I'll let ya know what obedience brings this week :)

love and miss ya all!

Sister Messer